Book 1 Chapter 11: An Unlikely Duel

Filtiarn watched Vero for a bit after the lad had fallen asleep before standing. He wondered where his wife had wandered off to after his dismissal and, seeing that he had no other duties to attend to presently, he wandered around the castle and didn’t catch sight of her, once. He frowned at this. He knew she wasn’t displeased, so it was unlikely that she had run away, though the thought crossed his mind. He bit his lip and squelched the notion. He began thinking of places she would have retreated to and realized that he could only think of places that he had watched her retreat to as a soldier, and not as an Ulrika. He then realized just how little he knew her now that she was an Ulrika. He raked his brain and eventually gave up in trying to figure out where she had gone off to. He noticed a servant who rushed by and motioned for her attention. Her ears perked as she strode over to him.

“What is it mi lord?” she asked calmly.

“Have you seen my wife?” he asked and she smiled.

“Oh, why yes mi lord. Though she is a strange one you have chosen. She be in the lists, ravaging the poor men who think they have the skills to oust her. Aye she is a strange one at that,” the servant said, grinning. Filtiarn looked down the hall and sighed in defeat. Of course Ylva would be in the lists, it was just as Vero had warned. Filtiarn thanked the servant, before he half ran, half walked to the lists.

When he got there, he smiled as he spotted her lean, white, wolf-like form as she dashed around a few of the other soldiers. He leaned against one of the walls and began counting how many he saw chase after her. As the numbers grew he shook his head and sighed. He knew that his soldiers where on a completely different level than her, but he wondered if she had to have so many challenge her at once, just to prove it.

She leaped past them as they tried to jump on her and created a dog pile of men that groaned as she looked back at them triumphantly. She shifted back into her human-like form and crossed her arms as she looked at them and tsked her tongue.

“You win milady,” some of the men groaned out. She approached them and some quickly scampered away. A young page boy approached her with a towel and cup of water. She took the towel, wiping the sweat off her brow and then chugged down the water before splashing the last of it on her face. She allowed the water to cool her off before wiping it off. She looked up and noticed him, her ears perking up in recognition. He waved to her as he pushed himself from the wall he was leaning against, before walking over. She closed the distance and smiled in satisfaction.

“Found me, did you?” she asked.

“Where else should I expect you my dear?” he asked, taking her hand and giving it a light peck. She scrunched up her face in embarrassment at his show of affection.

“I suppose that would be true,” she replied and he looked at her in fondness. She looked back at the men who were quickly practicing with more enthusiasm than usual. “This is more like home to me,” she said quietly and he nodded. She did seem to belong here more than the castle courtrooms, but he wouldn’t part with her for any reason. He only hoped she could find some pleasure in being his wife. She quickly looked at him with a question lingering on her tongue.

“So, how is Vero?” She asked.

“He’s sleeping,” Filtiarn responded and she nodded.

“He needs it,” she said and he agreed.

“Well, I don’t have anything to do at present,” he said and her ears flicked to the side in surprise and in question.

“No royal duties to attend?” she asked more in shock than a question.

“None,” he quipped and he grabbed her hand. “I know you just got done with torturing my men, but perhaps something a little more challenging would be appreciated?” he asked with a knowing look. She thought about the peculiar question for a moment then understanding lit her face and she laughed.

“Perhaps the one asking should be more straightforward in his desires,” she said and took his hand. He shrugged and guided her to the training field and asked for a sword. He had never practiced here, so when he asked for the sword his men looked at him in shock and looked at his wife who nodded. Word spread quickly as he and Ylva prepared for their bout and when they were ready to start, a crowd had assembled. His fine hearing picked up rumblings about Ylva beating him in a matter of moments and bets being placed on her. He smiled as he realized that Ylva was also picking up on these hushed conversations. Some questioned if he had ever picked up a sword, and some wondered if he had picked up some skills when he had gone missing for several years. He got into stance and then thought better and relaxed and held his hand up. Everyone became quiet.

“Perhaps best two out of three,” he suggested and Ylva shrugged.

“If that’s what you want,” she responded, guessing where he was taking this. They agreed to it and then both got into stance quickly. The crowd waited in silence and anticipation as they stared at the two.

Ylva was the first one to make a move and she charged at him and feinted to the left. He saw it coming but pretend to not notice and she quickly disarmed him and caught the sword and held both to his neck. He sighed and the crowd roared out in pleasure. Ylva glared at him.

“You threw it on purpose,” she whispered, upset. He shrugged.

“You know that, but they don’t,” he said, motioning to the crowd. She frowned.

“At least try harder now,” she said a bit louder and he chuckled.

“Perhaps I’ll show how I won you over,” he said and got into stance. She shifted her balance and the crowd became quiet. Filtiarn swore that he could have heard a pin drop in that silence if one were to.

This time he initiated the fight as he quick stepped to the side and came in low. Ylva brought her sword down and he dodged it and brought his in for the attack She blocked with the cross guard of her own sword and there were surprised gasps as the two pushed against each other, stopped in place for a moment. Ylva grinned as she realized that he was fighting seriously now and she shoved him back and quickly came in with a side cut. He dropped the blade and stopped the attack as he slid his own sword forward. She leapt back, closing the opening that he had created. The crowd roared its approval of the fight and several of the spectators murmured about how great a fighter the two were. Some of the men joked how they had a lot of practice if they were to protect the two in battle.

Filtiarn blocked out the rest of their conversations as he focused on the fight. She swiped at his head and he dodged back, barely avoiding a scrape before bringing his blade up to block another attack. He shoved the blade back and quickly stepped into her space, causing her to loose her balance. He was not expecting her to reach out and grab him though, and she pulled on him and yanked him down while righting herself and passing him as he fell.

He twisted his body so that he managed to block a strike from behind which brought a surprised look to her face that quickly faded as she pressed him. He rolled away and quickly got up to find her sword coming at him. He dodged to the side and brought his sword down on hers, causing her to loose her grip from the force.

She looked at him in shock as he brought the tip of his blade to her neck. She smiled as both panted from the exertion. There was stunned silence around them, and then a roaring round of amazement and approval. Ylva huffed as she caught her breath and he lowered his sword.

“Show off,” she commented and he laughed.

“Never,” he said sarcastically and she rolled her eyes.

“Well, this puts us at an impasse,” he said and Ylva nodded.

“The only thing to clear that would be to do another round,” she said quietly.

“Indeed. Shall we entertain them once more?”

“Oh would I love to be put to humiliation by you,” she responded sarcastically. He smiled.

“Go pick up your sword gel,” he said, motioning to where it lay. She walked over and picked it up, examined it then got into stance. He stood in stance as well but before he could get comfortable and ready, she was already on him.

The bout was rather long one, after being caught off guard many times, he lost his footing and tumbled to the ground and she pinned him with her sword at his neck.

“I yield,” he said loud and clear and she blew some hair out of her face while sheathing her sword. She gave him a hand and helped him up.

“Don’t tell me you went easy or I will kill you,” she said gruffly and he chuckled.

“I only went easy the first time, the others I was completely serious in beating you,” he said as he dusted off his tail and pants. “You won that last one fair and square love,” he said and she sighed. She didn’t know if she would ever get use to being showered with affection. While she was flustered he quickly and smoothly came over, scooping her into his arms. She yelped in surprise and tried to get out of his grasp but he held her firm as he walked with her out of the lists, with the roar of laughter and cheers of joy fading behind them. As soon as they rounded a corner he let her down and she turned around in a flurry of anger and embarrassment.

“You!” she shouted and he placed a finger on her lips.

“How else was I to reward the lovely war maiden, than sweep her off her feet and carry her off into the glorious day,” he said, explaining his reasoning for his actions. She felt a rush of heat flush her face and was sure that even her ear tips were burning red.

“Filtiarn,” she complained and he hushed her.

“It would be wise if you don’t call me by that when around the castle. No one is to know my name,” he said quickly and she dropped her ears.

“Sorry, I forgot,” she said through clenched teeth. Before either one could say anything they heard someone clear their throat, dragging their attention to some Yowlumne with clerical robes on. Filtiarn’s expressions went serious and all signs of teasing and laughter faded from his eyes, causing Ylva to quickly switch to a serious mood to reflect the tense atmosphere.

“Good day brethren, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

“It is well to see you doing fine on such a grand day your majesty, we have come on business regarding your wife,” said the Yowlumne with the most extravagant robes. Filtiarn tensed and she could see that he was not pleased with the news.

“My dear lady, it has come to our attention that you have not been attending the sacred worship at our church. We feared it was because you did not know when it took place so we sought you out to inform you,” he said, turning to her and making her stand at attention. Something about him made her skin crawl and she flicked her eyes towards Filtiarn who noticed. He stepped forward as if to protect her while making it seem like he was trying to get the leader’s attention.

“We apologize for making you fret brother, she was not informed of this and will be attending them soon as she is able,” Filtiarn said.

“What hinders mi lady from worshiping our great god, the black wolf? Has something transpired that we might help with?” the priest asked kindly but Ylva could almost sense his hidden intentions without them being sugar coated with his sweet words. This man was dangerous, that much she could tell. And the fact that he wasn’t afraid of his station being taken, meant he believed he was in a higher position than her husband which made shivers run down her spine. She would have punched the priest if not for the fact that her husband was in front of her. She couldn’t stand Yowlumne who felt they were superior and used that power for their own devices and whims.

“It is not something that requires the divine help of the brethren, nor would the royal family wish to burden such honorable men such as yourselves with a trifling issue,” Filtiarn said and his ears laid low and back as if he was threatening them to try him. The ornate priest chuckled once and his gaze fell on Ylva before he motioned to his two followers.

“It would be no problem but if you insist that it will be rectified soon then we will continue to be patient. However, if we do not see her in church soon, then we will be returning to help rectify this issue in whatever way we can,” the priest said before they turned and left. Ylva noticed Filtiarn’s clenched fist and she lightly touched it. He relaxed and grabbed her hand, looking at her in affection, but she could tell he was bothered deeply by this.

Filtiarn remained silent as he guided her through the halls back to their room. He had her enter first and quietly closed the doors behind them. He stayed at the doorway for a bit longer than what Ylva felt was normal, before turning around and walking over to her. His eyes had lost their glow that she knew had been there earlier. He walked past her, leaned against the window, and then placed his head against his hand before rubbing back and flipping his ear as he sighed.

“Is something the matter?” Ylva asked, prodding him to explain his mind; hopefully.

“I do not wish for you to get wrapped up in their corruption, at least not yet,” he said through gritted teeth. “It’s not something you can get through with a sword or a good punch, and this is certainly not our Master’s place where such behavior would be normal.

“True,” Ylva remarked with a thoughtful nod. “Nothing here is like that, and that is why you had Vero teach me some of these things.”

“Yes, but I was hoping to hold this part off a bit more,” Filtiarn replied, looking at her. Ylva wondered what he meant by that. She thought about those priests and how they really seemed determined to get her to come to church. She wondered if she should humor them or if that was a bad idea and she would find herself caught up one of their snares. If Filtiarn believed them to be corrupt, then they must be more corrupt than what she imagined. She walked over to him and grabbed his hand, bringing his attention fully on her.

“First things first,” she said. “If I’m to stay here, I will have to learn about many aspects of being an Ulrikan and I would rather learn them from someone I trust then someone who might manipulate me. I despise the idea of being a pawn. And I can protect myself, so none of that sheltering me. Second,” she said wagging her finger in front of his face. He grabbed it and smiled.

“Let me guess, I just need to equip you with the right tools, be they knowledge or weapons. Right?” he asked, talking in a quoting manner as he recited another stricture from their old master.

“Correct,” Ylva said seriously then smiled. “Now that we’re on the same page, I think I need to study about this ‘religion’ of those priests. Better be informed than make a fool of myself if we can’t figure out a way to get them off their high horse.” Filtiarn chuckled.

“Well it won’t be too hard to find out what you want. In fact our library has the whole history of how we worship the black wolf.”

“Great, show me.” She ordered.

“How can I ever say no when you do that?” he mumbled before taking her hand and escorting her out or the room and discretely through the halls to where the royal library was. Ylva had never liked books, she felt that she should be fighting with tooth and claw, but there were somethings that she had learned, in the past few months that you could not learn from a sword. She steadied her mind to this fact and allowed Filtiarn to show her to where the books were that she needed. She grabbed a few of the thinner looking ones and hoped that the letters were not small so she could ease herself into this new venture. Vero had helped her with keeping her attention for longer than five minutes within a book, but that was before she had found that her lack of knowledge would be harmful to Filtiarn and herself. She knew that she would have realized this eventually, but she wasn’t too happy with it.

She put on a brave face as she found a desk where she could lay out the books and just seeing them all on the table made her heart drop at the sight. This was going to take a long time. As she sat down she noticed a servant approach Filtiarn. He whispered something in his ear and Filtiarn sighed with resignation. He came over to her and placed his chin on her shoulder, looking at the first book that she had opened. She steeled herself at how comfortable he was in her presence. She pushed away her old thoughts of desiring to punish him for it, then thought that perhaps when they had time she would get him back in training by pressing him harder. She also was upset that he was distracting her when she wanted to be able to devote herself to becoming a better Ulrikan. He sighed in a sad tone, further distracting her.

“What is it?” she muttered, trying to keep a civil tone with him. “Can’t you tell I’m trying to read?” she asked, before he could reply to her question.

“I can tell, but I’m just enjoying being with you before I have to leave you for a time,” he said softly.

“Filtiarn,” she said, feeling disappointed that he had to leave but also embarrassed that he was still so close to her.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said softly before slowly rising and turning to leave. She watched him go before shivering. He somehow could manage to shake her usual calm and stoic shell that she put up without much effort. While she was miffed at the fact, she also found it plausible that she was finally able to open up to someone and become vulnerable. She scoffed at the notion. Back at the master’s training grounds, she never let anyone in or allowed herself any vulnerabilities, but in this world, she was dreadfully vulnerable to things that she never imagined she would ever have to deal with till now and it frightened her. She quickly scooped up the book and began pouring over it to distract her mind from this train of thought. Her tail twitched when she realized that it wasn’t really working. She groaned as she felt vulnerable and weak and if she was really honest, alone. She knew that Vero and Filtiarn were trying to help her adjust but she was a soldier, not a royal, and she let out a weak chuckle in gratitude that she didn’t have to dress in the stuffy dresses of a royal.

When her mind calmed down enough that other thoughts could come in, she opened up another book and set the old one down as she slowly and consciously began what would be a long and consuming study on religion.